RESEARCH & PUBLICATION

ABSTRACT There is a growing recognition that the ultra poor are generally not integrated into the current antipoverty programmes. In this paper, we estimate the long run impacts of a credit plus grant approach, a combination of microcredit, training and some grants, mostly in the form of consumption stipend, on the livelihoods of the ultra poor. Using longitudinal panel data (2012-2016), we show that the intervention increased labour supply, income, and food consumption. We also document .......

Can Basic Entrepreneurship Transform the Economic Lives of the Poor? Oriana Bandiera,Robin Burgess,Narayan C Das, Selim Gulesci, Imran Rasul, Munshi Sulaiman Abstract Does the lack of capital and skills drive occupational choice and poverty? We provide evidence from a large scale and long term randomized control trial of a programme that simultaneously provides assets and training to the poorest women in treatment communities in rural Bangladesh. The evaluation tracks 7000 eligible women .......

This paper aims to assess the effectiveness and draw lessons from the targeting strategy used in a new BRAC programme called Challenging the Frontiers of Poverty Reduction-Targeting the Ultra Poor (CFPR/TUP) that aims to experiment with a different type of approach to address extreme rural poverty. The underlying theme of both the CFPR/TUP programme and the targeting methodology used is an acknowledgement of the strength of combining different methods and approaches for greater effectiveness .......

Challenging the Frontiers of Poverty Reduction (CFPR) is a BRAC programme targeting the ultra poor households in various locations in the country. This programme targets the women of the bottom deciles of the population. Gram Daridra Bimochan Committee (GDBC) was formed in each programme village to support the beneficiaries. One of the activities of the committee was to arrange free supplementary tutoring for the children of programme beneficiaries. This study aims to explore the present .......

BRAC initiated an innovative programme known as Challenging the Frontiers of Poverty Reduction (CFPR) in 2002 to address the extreme poverty in Bangladesh. Impact assessment studies on the first phase of CFPR (2002-06) have shown that the programme had significant positive impacts on the livelihoods of the participant households. However, whether this impact on livelihoods is sustainable or not remained the key research question. Based on panel data from three rounds of survey (2002, 2005 and .......

Despite some remarkable improvements in nutritional status, malnutrition in Bangladesh is still highly prevalent, especially among the poorest. A number of initiatives are taking place that address the food intake of the ultra poor, either directly or indirectly. Challenging the Frontiers of Poverty Reduction/ Targeting the Ultra Poor (CFPR/TUP) has become the key programme for BRAC to help the most disadvantaged population. To provide a clear pathway of graduation to the beneficiaries after .......

Effective targeting is a hallmark of the BRAC’s CFPR/TUP programme. Like many other argeted programmes, CFPR/TUP combines a number of targeting methods. Launching in 2002, his programme has scaled up in 2005. Despite this scaling up, success in targeting has been aintained. Using poverty assessment tool, developed by CGAP, it was observed that about three uarters of the beneficiaries of this programme belong to the poorest quartile. his is a ommendable achievement when compared to other .......